| Who may exercise legislative power? | 1. The Congress
2. Local Government Units
3. the People through initiative and referendum |
| The power or competence to propose, enact, ordain, amend/alter, modify, abrogate or repeal laws. It is vested in the Congress which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives, except to the extent reserved to the people by the provision on initiative and referendum | Legislative Power |
| What are the Legislative powers of Congress | 1. General plenary power (Art. VI, Sec. 1)
2. Specific power of appropriation
3. Taxation and expropriation
4. Legislative investigation
5. Question hour |
| What is the Principle of Non-Delegability? | What has been delegated cannot be delegated
It is based upon the ethical principle that such delegated power constitutes not only as a right, but also as a duty to be performed by the delegate through the instrumentality of his own judgment and not through the intervening mind of another. A further delegation of such power, unless permitted by the sovereign power, would constitute a negation of this duty in violation of the trust reposed in the delegate. |
| What are the exception to the Principle of Non-delegability? | 1.) Delegation to the People at large
2.) Emergency powers of the President;
3.) Tariff powers of the President;
4.) Delegation to Administrative bodies power of subordinate legislation |
| What composes the Congress? | 1. Senate - 24
2. House of Representatives - a) District Representatives b) Party-list Representatives -- not more than 250 members, unless otherwise fixed by law |
| what are the qualifications of a Senator? | 1. NATURAL-BORN citizen of the Philippines;
2. At least 35 YEARS OF AGE on the day of election;
3. Able to READ AND WRITE;
4. A REGISTERED VOTER;
5. RESIDENT of the Philippines for NOT LESS THAN 2 YEARS immediately preceding the day of election. (Art. VI, Sec. 3) |
| what are the qualifications of a member of the House of Representatives? | 1. NATURAL-BORN citizen of the Philippines;
2. At least 25 YEARS OF AGE on the day of election
XPN: A youth sector nominee must be at least twenty-five (25) but not more than thirty (30) years of age on the day of the election. Once he attains the age of thirty (30) during his term, he shall be allowed to continue in office until the expiration of his term. [RA No. 7941, Sec. 9 (2)]
3. Able to READ AND WRITE;
4. Except the party- list representatives, a REGISTERED VOTER in the district in which he shall be elected;
5. RESIDENT thereof for a period of NOT LESS THAN 1 YEAR immediately preceding the day of the election. (Art. VI, Sec. 6) |
| What are the term of a)Senator b) House of Representative | SENATOR - 6 years, which shall commence, unless otherwise provided by law, at noon on the 30th day of June next following their election.
Term limit: Not more than 2 consecutive terms.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE - 3 years, which shall begin, unless otherwise provided by law, at noon on the 30th day of June next following their election.
Term limit: Not more than 3 consecutive terms. |
| When is a member of Congress disqualified form office? | 1. violation of term limits
2. One who has been declared by competent authority as insane or incompetent
3. One who has been sentenced by final judgment for: (SIR-18-M)
a. Subversion;
b. Insurrection;
c. Rebellion;
d. Any offense for which he has been sentenced to a penalty of not more than 18 months; or
e. A crime involving Moral turpitude, unless given plenary pardon o granted amnesty (BP 881, Sec. 12). |
| How are members of the Congress expelled? | Expulsion by theE Senate with the concurrence of 2/3 of all its members. (1987 Constitution, Art. VI, Sec. 16, par. 3) |
| what are the two accepted tests to determine whether or not there is a valid delegation of legislative power? | 1. Completeness Test and
2. Sufficient Standard Test |
| What is Completeness Test? | Under the COMPLETENESS TEST, The law must be complete in all essential terms and conditions when it leaves the legislature so that there will be nothing left for the delegate to do when it reaches him except to enforce it. A law is complete when it sets forth therein the policy to be executed, carried out or implemented by the delegate |
| What is sufficient standard test? | Under the SUFFICIENCY OF STANDARDS TEST, the statute must not only define a fundamental legislative policy, mark its limits and boundaries, and specify the public agency to exercise the legislative power. It must also indicate the circumstances under which the legislative command is to be effected. To avoid the taint of unlawful delegation, there must be a standard, which implies at the very least that the legislature itself determines matters of principle and lays down fundamental policy |
| What is the Legislative Privilege | No member shall be questioned or held liable in aANY FORUM other than his respective Congressional body for any debate or speech in Congress or in any committee thereof. (1987 Constitution, Art. VI, Sec. 11; Pobre v. Sen. Santiago, August 25, 2009) |
| What are the Requirements for the privilege of speech and debate to operate? | 1. Remarks or comments are made while IN SESSION; and
2. Must be made in CONNECTION with the discharge of OFFICIAL DUTIES |
| What are the Prohibitions attached to a legislator during his term? | 1. Incompatible Office
2. Forbidden Office |
| May not hold any other office or employment in the Government, during his term without FORFEITING his seat | Incompatible Office |
| Cannot be appointed to any office which have been created, or the emoluments thereof increased during the term for which he was elected
NOTE: After such term, and even if he is re- elected, the disqualification no longer applies and he may therefore be appointed to the office | Forbidden office |
| Automatically forfeits seat upon the member’s assumption of such other office
XPN: holds other office in ex-officio capacity | Incompatible Office |
| Even if he is willing to forfeit his seat, he may not be appointed to said office
Purpose: to prevent trafficking in public office. | Forbidden Office |
| What is the voting requirement for the suspension of a member of Congress | concurrence of 2/3 of all its members |
| What are the instances when a bill becomes a law? | 1. APPROVED AND SIGNED by the PRESIDENT
2. Presidential veto OVERRIDDEN BY 2/3 VOTE of all members of both Houses
3. FAILURE OF THE PRESIDENT TO VETO the bill and to return it with his objections to the House where it originated, within 30 days after the date of receipt
4. A bill calling a SPECIAL ELECTION for President and Vice-President under Sec. 10. Art. VII becomes a law upon its approval on the third reading and final reading. |
| What is the Doctrine of Augmentation | The following may, by law, be authorized to augment any item in the general appropriations law for their respective offices from savings in other items of their respective appropriations in accordance with Doctrine of Augmentation:
President;
President of the Senate;
Speaker of the House of Representatives; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; and Heads of Constitutional Commissions. (1987 Constitution, Art. VI, Sec. 25[5]; Demetria v. Alba, G.R. No. 71977, February 27, 1987 and Araullo v. Aquino III, G.R. No. 209287, July 1, 2014)
Prohibitions against appropriations for sectarian benefit; and
Automatic re-appropriation– If, by the end of any fiscal year, the Congress shall have failed to pass the general appropriations bill for the ensuing fiscal year, the general appropriations law for the preceding fiscal year shall be deemed reenacted and shall remain in force and effect until the general appropriations bill is passed by the Congress [1987 Constitution, Art. VI, Sec. 25(7)]. |
| May the Congress increase the budget proposal? | Congress may only reduce but not increase the budget. |
| distinguish Question hour from legislative investigation | as to persons who may appear, in question hour, only a department head while in legislative investigation, any person
as to who CONDUCTS THE INVESTIGATION, in QH, the entire body, while in LI, the committees or the entire body
as to SUBJECT MATTER, in QH, matters related to the department only while in LI, any matter for the purpose of legislation |
| Where the heads of departments may, upon their own initiative, with the consent of the President, or upon the request of either House, as the rules of each House shall provide, appear before and be heard by such House on any matter pertaining to their departments. | Question hour |
| who has the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment? | the House of Representatives |
| when is impeachment deemed initiated? | A verified complaint is filed and referred to the Committee on Justice for action. This is the initiating step which triggers the series of steps that follow. The term “to initiate” refers to the filing of the impeachment complaint coupled with Congress’ taking initial action of said complaint. (Francisco v. House of Rep., G.R. No. 160261, Nov. 10, 2003) |
| What is then one-year bar rule? | Initiation takes place by the act of filing of the impeachment complaint and referral to the House Committee on Justice. Once an impeachment complaint has been initiated in the foregoing manner, another may not be filed against the same official within the one-year period. (Gutierrez v. HoR Committee on Justice, ibid.) |
